LONDON: Sky, the UK pay-TV broadcaster, is reportedly planning to challenge its rival BT Sport for rights to the UEFA Champions League, European soccer’s elite club competition.
The new rights cycle for the tournament, along with the second-tier Europa League, runs from 2021 to 2024 and has already attracted interest from ITV. The free-to-air broadcaster is set to mount a ‘serious’ bid to bring the Champions League back to terrestrial TV, having lost the its rights in 2015 after BT Sport bid almost UK£900 million (US$1.2 billion) for an exclusive contract.
Sky has previously played down the importance of the Champions League to its offering compared to the Premier League, which sees it pay UK£3.6 billion (US$4.6 billion) to show 128 matches per season through to 2021/22 from the domestic top-flight.
Whilst this had pointed to BT Sport keeping hold of the competition without having to significantly up its financial outlay, Bloomberg reports that we could now be set for a bidding war, which could prove problematic for BT.
The telecommunications company is facing pressure to invest more in its broadband and 5G mobile networks while keeping enough cash to pay dividends. The company has spent a reported US$6 billion on soccer since 2013, including UK£1.2 billion (US$1.5 billion) in 2017 for Champions League rights through to 2021.
Bloomberg’s reports that Sky’s interest in the Champions League had been revived by the enduring power of the Premier League as it continues to pull in large audiences from across the globe.
Liverpool’s thrilling semi-final against Barcelona drew 1.7 million viewers to BT Sport, more than three times the number that watched the 2015 final between Barcelona and Juventus on Sky, a season in which English teams performed poorly.
In recent years, Premier League clubs have dominated European competitions. In 2019, an all-English final saw Liverpool defeat Tottenham Hotspur for their sixth title, while Chelsea beat London rivals Arsenal to win the Europa League.
Sky had previously been coy about its Champions League interest since its US$38.8 billion takeover from US cable giant Comcast last year. The buyout gives the broadcaster more financial heft to secure media rights, but Sky Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch appeared to quell any talk of a spending spree after indicating sport was not an overriding priority.
“We’re not wedded to any particular part of the business now. The business is very different,” he said.
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